AU Shippin' Out March 8-12: Final Fantasy XIII

SquareEnix's highly anticipated Japanese RPG makes its Western debut on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

There aren't too many game franchises that can boast they've been around for more than 20 years, but Final Fantasy is one of them. This week sees the latest iteration in the series, Final Fantasy XIII, released on Aussie shores. This time around you play as a former soldier called Lightning, who is stuck between sides in a brutal civil war. Final Fantasy XIII marks the first time the series will be released on multiple platforms at the same time, and it will be gunblading the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this Tuesday.

Japanese games seem to be leading the pack this week, with Yakuza 3 also being released. Launching in the West a year after its debut in the Land of the Rising Sun, the game is largely in Japanese and uses only subtitles to explain the story. A few other minor changes have been made to the local release, such as the removal of hostess clubs.

Last year saw Activision launch two new peripheral-based games, but only one of them, DJ Hero, made it to Australia. Now the second game, Tony Hawk Ride, is due to slide down the ramp into retail. In the US, Ride sold just 116,000 units in its opening month; how it performs Down Under remains to be seen.

@FallenOneX - There is now. Here, IGN, PalGN and a wealth of others. Got mine sitting in front of me and it looks like I have to do a server rebuild tonight after work!! Nooo, I won't get to play until tomorrow night now!